Children in poverty by age group and race and ethnicity in the United States

Definitions: The share of children under age 18 who live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level by age group and race/ethnicity.

The federal poverty definition consists of a series of thresholds based on family size and composition. For 2021, the poverty threshold for a family of 4 with two children was $27,479. Poverty status is not determined for people in military barracks, institutional quarters, or for unrelated individuals under age 15 (such as foster children).  The data are based on income received in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Data Source: Population Reference Bureau, analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2013 through 2019, 2021 American Community Survey.

These were derived from ACS table B17001.

Footnotes: Updated September 2022.
S - Estimates suppressed when the confidence interval around the percentage is greater than or equal to 10 percentage points.
N.A. – Data not available.
Note: Differences in estimates by race and ethnicity between 2021 ACS and prior years may be the result of demographic changes, and/or differences in question wording (the ACS question on race was revised in 2020 to make it consistent with the 2020 Census race question), processing, coding updates, or methodological differences in the population estimates used as controls. For more information, see the ACS Race User Note: Improvements to the Race Question.
A 90 percent confidence interval for each estimate can be found at Children in poverty by age group and race and ethnicity .

Definitions: The share of children under age 18 who live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level by age group and race/ethnicity.

The federal poverty definition consists of a series of thresholds based on family size and composition. For 2021, the poverty threshold for a family of 4 with two children was $27,479. Poverty status is not determined for people in military barracks, institutional quarters, or for unrelated individuals under age 15 (such as foster children).  The data are based on income received in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Data Source: Population Reference Bureau, analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2013 through 2019, 2021 American Community Survey.

These were derived from ACS table B17001.

Footnotes: Updated September 2022.
S - Estimates suppressed when the confidence interval around the percentage is greater than or equal to 10 percentage points.
N.A. – Data not available.
Note: Differences in estimates by race and ethnicity between 2021 ACS and prior years may be the result of demographic changes, and/or differences in question wording (the ACS question on race was revised in 2020 to make it consistent with the 2020 Census race question), processing, coding updates, or methodological differences in the population estimates used as controls. For more information, see the ACS Race User Note: Improvements to the Race Question.
A 90 percent confidence interval for each estimate can be found at Children in poverty by age group and race and ethnicity .